Archives for Vans

What’s up everyone? Ambush is proud to announce that it will be hosting the first contest at the new Kennesaw Skatepark called March Radness. No mushy flat ground game of skate. This is REAL street/pool style skateboarding for your eyes to see. This is your chance to show Ambush what you got and show the City of Kennesaw why it was such a good idea building this park. Don’t wanna compete? It’s free to watch and come hang out with the Ambush crew. There will be tons of talented locals putting on a awesome show! Big thanks to all the sponsors that help contribute to making this contest happen!

Check out the trailer to see just a glimpse of the action that will be going down!

Street Contest Info:
-64 skaters max. Register in advance at Ambush Board Co.
-Jam session format for prelims and semifinals. Four skaters per jam. Jams are 4 minutes in length. Top skater moves on to the next round.
-Individual skate for finals. Each finalist will get two 1-minute runs (alternating between skaters).

Pool Jam Info:
-32 skaters max. Register in advance at Ambush Board Co.
-Prelims and semifinals feature four skaters per jam. Each skater gets two 45-second runs (alternating between skaters). Top skater moves on to the next round.
-Finals pits top two skaters going head to head for 10 minutes (alternating between skaters).

The day’s delivery comes in. The crew all gravitates to the shipment as if the boxes have some sort of magnetic pull. Mostly, everyone wants to take a mental inventory of what we just got in. Others want to poke fun. But, every once in a while, we get some products in that really speak to us. You know, the ones that really get you pumped to ride. This week’s picks are pretty diverse, but I guess that is expected from a crew with a bunch of unique interests.

Sean Hance – Lib Tech TRS
“C2 is for me too. I love the rocker/camber combo. Grip when you need it, forgiveness when you don’t.”

Lee Elliott – Gnaraloo SUP
“I can’t wait to take my little grom out on the lake this summer, plop him on the nose of this thing, and tool around the water.”

Josh Butler is family. Ever need a friend, Josh is there to oblige. Looking for a good time, Josh is your man. Need someone to talk to, Josh will listen. Josh has all of the characteristics you would want in a brother, friend, team rider, son, and even your daughter’s boyfriend. So, when Josh desperately needs your help, you better give it your all.

For those of you that don’t know, Josh Butler was shot in the abdomen during a robbery last year. He has made a full recovery, but his medical bills are devastating. And although Josh would never ask for our help, we know how truly deserving and thankful for the help he would be.

The Josh Butler Benefit Game of Skate raised over $2,000 for the Josh Butler Medical Fund. And, it was a super good time. Special thanks to all of you that came out to support. Your participation went a long way towards helping Josh get his life back to normal.

Friday August 31st the Ambush team headed up north to Found Skatepark to show off the goods and give away some goodies. This was the first time up there for most of us and I have to say that the park is pretty damn sweet. The guys over at Found made good use of a smaller sized space and the park flows like butter. I know the Found is pretty far from home for you local Ambush dudes, but we saw a few familiar faces up there (which is awesome) and met a whole bunch of new rad kids as well. Hopefully, this video will hype some of you to drive up to Ellijay and give it a whirl.

Big thanks to Mike and the whole Found crew for having us, and an even bigger thanks to all the kids and families who showed up in support. Hope you guys had as much fun as we did!

“There are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable, and no frontiers beyond our reach.” – John S. Herrington

We all want to be innovators. We all want to make a difference in the world. We all want to invent the next thing, perform a new trick, advance a new style, or turn a head in our direction. We all want to push forward and be remembered. We all want to progress.

The only thing is: being an innovator is extremely difficult. Mediocre people are always trying to convince you that you can’t. Jealous people will to tell you why you won’t. The masses will ridicule your ideas and say they will never work.

But everything’s been done before. Wrong.

ABD. This spot is shut down. Really?

That trick is impossible. Why?

Dream big and you will not only progress in your own life, you will uplift other lives as well. Consider these advancements in skateboarding, snowboarding, and surfing. Without these innovations, the sports would never have gotten to where they are. And you may not have been able to enjoy them to the level you have become accustomed to.

Wherever you are and whatever you do, thank an innovator for bringing it to you.

To kick off the release of the huge new Spring ’12 Vansapparel and shoe line, Vans sent the tour bus down to chill with us all day. Vitamin Water was there for the fun too which was much needed since it was molten hot all day.

We’ve chilled with Rob Dyrdek, we’ve hosted Baker, Fallen, Mystery, Real and many more, but on Saturday we got to hang with Ray Barbee, one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. OF ALL TIME! And the man couldn’t have been any cooler.

When I arrived, the parking lot and store were all ready out of control. With 20% off Vans products all day what would you expect? I whipped out the old Stevie Williams Ramp Logic box and the ledge slashing began immediately. Vans kicked off the contests with a best trick on the box, then gave out some free shoes to the kid with the most busted pair on his feet. A whole van full of product was given away throughout the day and the kids were hyped.

To top the day off, Vans grilled up some hotdogs while Ray Barbee signed his name a thousand times and sent the shredders off with a bag full of goodies. A big thanks to Vans and their crew for making Saturday a blast. If you missed it on Saturday, don’t beat yourself up too much. Just pop in the next chance you get. Ray Barbee won’t be here but all the sick new Vansshoes and apparel will be.

The Ambush Josh Butler Benefit Jam at Progressive Skatepark was a success. Lets cut to the chase: We raised $3,015 throughout the event through raffles and entry fees. Everybody was happy. Josh got a good chunk of change to help out his medical bills and every single kid walked out with at least one prize. If you didn’t walk away with something, then you probably were not there.

The epic grom sessions were epic, the adult jams were insane, and the mini ramp jams were pretty wild. I don’t know what the parents are feeding their kids up there in Canton, but some of those 13 and under kids were hitting more rails than the big boys. The best trick event down the double set, big hubba, and the bank got the crowd screaming. One kid tre-flip 5-0’d the big hubba with a bottom grill in his mouth. Another board flipping guru landed a triple dolphin flip (or foward flip, or thunder flip whatever the hell you want to call it) down the bank. Mike at Progressive had quite a few brains to clean up off the floor because that kid BLEW MINDS.

But, the biggest deal about last night is that everyone came together for Josh. That is why the skateboard community is the best group of dudes on this damn planet. Josh has been one of my good friends and apart of the best crew out there (SEC!) for almost ten years now. I know first hand that this guy is the last person who deserved to get shot, but he is the first person who deserves all the love everyone showed him last night. We love that dude, and he knows it.

And I just want to add that for getting shot only three months ago, Josh Butler was killing it harder than half the people out there.

This past weekend, Ambush sponsored an event unlike our usual mad house Game of Skate, or our gnarly wakeboard competitions. This time it was fueled by hott babes, snowboard product, and well, a little bit of vodka. What happens when all of these things come together? The Snow Jam. The Snow Jam was a fashion show we held at Tongue and Groove located in downtown Atlanta. Of course with our crew, this unique combination of things leads to a bunch of craziness like crashing bachelorette parties, dancing on random tables, taking off clothing, and chugging bottles of whatever you can find. We have become experienced enough to balance this out with our work we were their to do.

Before we made the journey downtown, Lee, Rhett, and myself stuffed our faces with sushi and sat in a food coma for a few minutes. After a sake bomb, we were ready to go. Standing at the entrance of Tongue and Groove holding a snowboard we were about to give away, we looked totally out of place. Dressed in some what skated Vans TNT 5’s and a button down to look somewhat classy, wasn’t really enough. Once inside we noticed all of the waitresses were wearing almost nothing, but had some snow gear on, reminding us of home. Our Ambush crew was there, ready for the event. While the club was gradually filling up with people, Lee and myself get bored. What better to do than crash some bachelorette party?…Well nothing at the time I guess. Afterwords we were all entertained by an 60 something year old guy tripping on who knows what, cuttin’ the rug all by himself for hours on end.

The event actually starts, models come out walking the runway, and that outerwear has never looked so good. Its one thing to see it hanging on a rack all day, but when a smokin’ hott model puts it on, there is something different about it. Who woulda thought right?

We were armed with a V.I.P. section and several bottles of Grey Goose. Things get fuzzy for me after this point, but Kline was ripping clothes off of himself, I was apparently dancing on tables, Derick was throwin’ down with his bro’s, Lee was documenting the night with the camera for the rest of the world to see, and the event was a success.

As former Ambush employee, Rees, would have said, “Sorry we like to party!”

Being sponsored has become the holy grail of action sports. Some kids try their whole lives to get sponsored. Some succeed…some don’t. What if you could suddenly wave a magic wand get sponsored right now? Which company would you want to be sponsored by? What is your dream brand that you are dying to rep? Well…we asked the Ambush guys that same question.

Brian: Vans – “‘Cause you don’t have to buy clothing and shoes and s#!t. They got sweet flannels and make everything from skate shoes to snowboard boots.”

Ruben: RVCA – RVCA makes great quality clothing and it looks good. Also, along with sponsoring skateboarders, they support artists and musicians. My faves are the Artist Network Program tees. Their shirts have awesome graphics and are pretty comfy.

Skateboarders are quite possibly the most enthusiastic people on the planet. I know we may seem spaced out, aloof, and disinterested, but that’s part of our charm. When it comes to skateboarding, we are all in.

The Ambush Game of Skate is the most consistently rock solid event in the Atlanta skateboard scene, and it is the gusto of the participants that makes the contest what it is. No vibes here…just a couple hundred skateboarders pursuing their passion. Everyone was hanging out, rooting their friends on, and tapping their boards in respect for a banger trick. It’s as if we were all in this together and the competition was just a way to express our personal individuality throughout the day. And that’s what skateboarding is all about.

However, unlike your little sister’s youth soccer match, we were keeping score. And for those of you that love the thrill of victory, the contest was pretty f*[{!#& competitive. Cheers to those who made the podium.

Special thanks to all those who came out and supported the event. Extra special thanks to all the competitors, John and Daniel at Vans, Brooks at Volcom, the Skullcandy crew, Yuri at LRG, Brandon at Emerica, and Ken at Skununu.

ABOUT US

Ambush Board Co. is a universally recognized global leader in Board Sports retail. Founded in 1997 in Kennesaw, Georgia, Ambush is owned and operated by a core group of devoted skaters, wakeboarders, and snowboarders who are deeply invested in the Board Sports community, and has evolved by staying true to their essential principles of Service, Knowledge, Integrity, Commitment, and Passion. Ambush always has been and always will be unyielding in their collective efforts to push the progression of Board Sports retail.